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About Jesicakes

A BFA Painting and Drawing graduate gone cookie designer and decorator. I bring my knowledge of art, composition, and color to pastries to create the perfect cookies and cakes for your events or occasions.

Monday, December 12, 2011

For a while now I've been wanting to make super rich, chocolatey, brownie-like cookies. And come winter my cravings for mint chocolate cookies start to grow. But then the question became do I go the route of Peppermint or Andes mints? So I decided to do a mint cookie bake off...one recipe, two refreshing, cool, minty variations. In both cookies, the chocolate mixture I use is rich and deep but not too dark. They have a slight crisp to the outside but a soft, gooey brownie like texture on the inside. Theses cookies are intense, guaranteed to please any chocolate lover! I built this recipe after studying about ten or so variations, putting together what I thought would make the perfect cookie and if I haven't made I'm pretty darn close! You can try both and decide for yourself which on is superior!

This is the Andes Fudge Cookie post. I added chopped Andes mints to the mix for a cool, refreshing minty taste that hits you right away. They have that cooling effect of the Andes, with little bits of sweetness from white chocolate chips that add a nice textural difference to the smoothness of the chocolate cookie itself.

The process to this is pretty much identical to the Peppermint Bark Cookies, but I figured it'd be easier to follow as two separate posts.

*I used both because I feel like brown rice flour is more substantial than white rice, but also wanted a bit of silkiness from the white rice. I'm sure if you used one or the other it'd be fine.
**They sell prechopped Andes mints, so if you have those, use about 2/3 a cup.

For a while now I've been wanting to make super rich, chocolatey, brownie-like cookies. And come winter my cravings for mint chocolate cookies start to grow. But then the question became do I go the route of Peppermint or Andes mints? So I decided to do a mint cookie bake off...one recipe, two refreshing, cool, minty variations. In both cookies, the chocolate mixture I use is rich and deep but not too dark. They have a slight crisp to the outside but a soft, gooey brownie like texture on the inside. Theses cookies are intense, guaranteed to please any chocolate lover! I built this recipe after studying about ten or so variations, putting together what I thought would make the perfect cookie and if I haven't made I'm pretty darn close! You can try both and decide for yourself which on is superior!

This is the Peppermint Bark Cookie post. I added crushed Peppermints to the mix for a lingering, warm, almost spice from the peppermint. The peppermint adds a great crunch within the cookie. And the white chocolate chips add a creamy, smooth, sweet balance to the peppermint and completes the peppermint bark effect of the cookies.

The process to this is pretty much identical to the Andes Fudge Cookies, but I figured it'd be easier to follow as two separate posts.

*I used both because I feel like brown rice flour is more substantial than white rice, but also wanted a bit of silkiness from the white rice. I'm sure if you used one or the other it'd be fine.
**I used 6 candy canes which was the perfect amount.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Something so simple can really add to a dessert, especially in terms of presentation. Something about adding a Hershey's kiss to the top of the sugar cookies I made in my last post made them so much more festive...and made my boyfriend very happy since he's been known to polish Hershey's kisses off like no one's business. I actually would love to try it with different kinds of kisses...peppermint, hugs, etc. To make them, follow my last post exactly. you add the Hershey's kiss with 2 minutes left on the baking time, just long enough to set them into the dough but not long enough to melt them. It adds a nice touch of chocolate, and let's be honest, it just makes them look pretty darn cute.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

My friend Jessica came by a few weeks ago asking me to help her make a gluten free sugar cookie for the holiday. Simple sugar cookies are one of my favourites...sweet, soft and chewy with a bit of crispness from being rolled in sugar before baking. I found a recipe for Lemon Sugar Cookies from Two Peas And Their Pod that included lemon which I thought would really brighten up your regular sugar cookie. Personally, when I made sugar cookies in the past I always included cream cheese in them. It keeps them nice and soft and adds a little bit of sweetness and tartness that wound up pairing nicely with the lemon flavor. Besides chocolate chip, sugar cookies are a treat that will please almost everyone. These sweet, light, lemony sugar cookies will be a nice change from heavy winter flavors and meals.